How to get hold of Hydroponic Gear? Ask the Police.

Most private hydroponic gardens in the UK (though by no means all) are used to grow cannabis. Such gardens range in size from installations of industrial scale to domestic environments and even cupboards. Each garden of this type, if it contains cannabis, represents a crime. The growing of cannabis having first been criminalised in the UK on the 28th September 1928 when the 1925 Dangerous Drugs Act came into force.

Hydroponics works for growing because as Jeffrey Winterborne says in his book, Hydroponics Indoor Horticulture, 'water, nutrient and air are mainlined directly to the root ball, freeing the plant to use its available energy in the upper leaf, fruit or flower development"... its "super charged battery farming for plants on steroids" but the plants are in heaven not hell'. (I should add that the book contains the following disclaimer: 'it has come to our attention that some people use information and equipment related to the subject of hydroponics for illegal activities. The author, producers and publishers do not advocate breaking the law, nor is this publication (and corresponding website) intended to encourage or promote the use of illegal substances or activities'.)

So having first made the proposal to the Gallery, then having the proposal accepted, I then became worried about how I would procure the equipment needed for the installation. My shopping list was as follows:

Ventilation

Carbon Filter and chain
Outward fan and ducting (6 metres)
Inward fan and ducting (6 metres)
Oscillating fan

Lighting
4 x 600 watt metal halide or sodium lamps (as seen)
4 x reflector as illustrated
4 x adjustable hangers
4 x ballasts
1 x eco switch contactor – (Canatronics?)
24 pot flood and drain system with pumps and all controls

Gas
C02 bottle with controller

I wondered if the Police had any confiscated equipment.

The idea of exhibiting equipment that had been used in the commission of an actual crime was itself attractive in relation to the proposal as the provenance of this material would add value to the ideas in the exhibition.

Obtaining the equipment from the Police was clearly the safest route, but also the route I dreaded most. Fortunately, I have some local friends who were formerly senior officers with the Thames Valley Police. I was dreading cold calling the Police and asking if they had any hydroponic growing gear so I asked them for some tips.

I thought that if I could use the good offices of another party my approach to them might seem more legitimate so I asked my friend about it and to my surprise she felt that it would not be a problem at all. She said that I should simply write to the Chief Constable of the local area and anticipate that the letter would be passed to a Properties Officer for attention.

She told me that when the police confiscate assets and materials associated with crime that they have a responsibility to sell it and realise the best price unless they have reason to believe that these goods could be used in the commission of further crimes e.g. weapons and drugs. I wondered if this put me in a strong position because I felt that I would probably be the only legitimate user of such equipment who might approach them and offer to buy it.

I am by nature a person who feels intense guilt at any whiff of crime or indeed at the mere presence of a Police Officer and I can blush if accused of speeding for example. (I understand that there is an obsessive compulsive disorder that consists entirely of confessing to crimes even though none have been committed. This could be me!)

While the proposal was being considered by the Gallery and thought through in terms of what it might mean for them to exhibit it - I sat on this idea and my friend’s advice hoping that this would produce the right result if needed.

The Gallery had decided that they did want to take the proposal for the exhibition and it transpired that a member of the Gallery staff, Mary Robinson (Services Manager) was an Eden District Councillor. I know of her as a supporter of the arts because she is on Eden Arts Board. Fiona Venables who is curating the show told me that as part of her work as a Councillor she sat on the Cumbria Police Authority and she would ask her if she could approach the police on my behalf. Being a complete coward I instantly accepted the suggestion and this is what she said to the police....

"I attach a proposal for an art installation: ‘A Hydroponic Garden for Growing Skunk Cannabis’, by the artist Christian Barnes.

The Hydroponic Garden will be a central component of ‘Sedition’, an exhibition in Tullie House Art Gallery that runs from 18 September – 28 November 2010 and which is designed to celebrate the most innovative and challenging work being produced by professional visual artists in Cumbria.

Within the context of Sedition, the work is deliberately provocative - but ultimately it uses the black market cultivation of skunk cannabis to compel a greater consideration of the relationship between humans and plants and of plant cultivation in the real economy.

The installation will not include cannabis but the artist is interested in using equipment with this provenance to create the garden; we would also like to acquire equipment in such a way as we are not inadvertently supporting in any way the illicit cultivation of cannabis. For this reason, we are enquiring about the possibility of borrowing any confiscated equipment currently being stored by the police for the duration for the exhibition.

To ensure that the garden can be created by the time of the exhibition, we do need to know whether borrowing equipment in this way is viable. Could you please give us some indication of this by 9 July?"

I was really wanting equipment that the police held in store which might sit between a period of confiscation/evidence and destruction. It turned out that they had nothing available but that in fact they were willing to check their stores for the purpose after Mary’s intervention.

Later a friend had sent me this link to the News and Star about a raid on a cannabis grower in Wigton but it wasn't timely.